Cathedral Grove, with its majestic 800 year old ancient Douglas-fir trees, is the most famous old-growth forest in Canada. It lies within a small park, MacMillan Provincial Park, at the base of Mount Horne. Millions of people from around the world visit this incredible grove every year on their way to the West Coast of Vancouver Island and the town of Tofino.

However, logging giant Island Timberlands has built a road in order to log a cutblock on the mountainside above Cathedral Grove. This will fragment the continuous forest cover on the slope above Cathedral Grove, including some of the last 1% of BC’s old-growth coastal Douglas-fir trees and a deer winter range; increase erosion and siltation into the park in the Cameron River; and ruin part of the Mount Horne Loop Trail that the cutblock overlaps.

Island Timberlands is currently logging or intending to log endangered old-growth forests throughout the southern coast of BC, including McLaughlin Ridge, the Cameron Valley Firebreak, Labour Day Lake, Juniper Ridge, Cortes Island, Stillwater Bluffs, the Day Road Forest, Pearl Lake, and Kwakiutl lands near Port Hardy.

On BC’s southern coast, already 75% of the original ancient forest has been logged including over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow – and 99% of the old-growth coastal Douglas-fir trees. See “before” and “after” old-growth maps at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php

Old-growth forests are vital to sustain wildlife, endangered species, tourism, clean water, the climate, and many First Nations cultures.

SPEAK UP! We need Island Timberlands to BACK OFF and the BC Liberal government to protect the ecological integrity of Cathedral Grove and the province’s endangered old-growth forests!

Send a Message to Save Cathedral Grove!

Cathedral Grove is the most famous and heavily visited old-growth forest in Canada. Every year millions of people visit this spectacular grove and come to marvel at the grandeur of British Columbia’s old-growth forests.

However, Island Timberlands is currently poised to log an old-growth forest on Mount Horne, the mountainside above Cathedral Grove. This will fragment the continuous forest cover and wildlife habitat on the slope above Cathedral Grove; destroy some of the last 1% of BC’s old-growth coastal Douglas-fir trees; destroy an area previously designated as deer winter range; increase siltation of the Cameron River which runs through Cathedral Grove; and ruin part of the Mount Horne Loop Trail that the cutblock overlaps.

The logging would take place in an area formerly planned as Ungulate Winter Range intended to protect the old-growth winter habitat of black-tailed deer – a planned designation that was removed when the BC Liberal government deregulated the lands in 2004 by removing them from their Tree Farm Licence.

Island Timberlands is currently engaged in multiple logging incursions into other highly endangered old-growth forests besides Mount Horne. This includes recent logging and/or road-building on Kwakiutl First Nation lands near Port Hardy; at McLaughlin Ridge, Juniper Ridge, Labour Day Lake, and the Cameron Valley Firebreak on Vancouver Island; plans to log the Stillwater Bluffs near Powell River and the Day Road Forest near Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast; and plans to log old-growth forests near Basil Creek and the Green Valley on Cortes Island.

Until recently many of these private corporate lands were regulated to the stronger standards found on public lands. However, in 2004, the BC Liberal government removed 88,000 hectares of these lands from their Tree Farm Licence, thereby removing most of the forest protections there.

A follow-up agreement between the logging company and the BC government was supposed to ensure the protection of critical Ungulate Winter Range and Wildlife Habitat Areas on the deregulated lands, but so far both Island Timberlands and the BC government have failed to pursue such an agreement.

BC’s old-growth forests are vital to support endangered species, tourism, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and many First Nations cultures whose unceded lands these are. About 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have already been logged on BC’s southern coast, including over 90% of the valley-bottom ancient forests where the largest trees grow, and 99% of the old-growth coastal Douglas fir trees.

I am calling on the BC Liberal government to take responsibility for your environmental deregulation of old-growth forests and critical wildlife habitat formerly within Tree Farm Licences including those by Cathedral Grove, and for the fate of endangered old-growth forests throughout the province.

I am asking that the BC Liberal government undertake a Provincial Old-Growth Plan that will legislate protection for BC’s endangered old-growth forests on Crown lands, while ensuring a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry and an end the export of raw logs to foreign mills.

On private lands, the BC government must re-establish a provincial park acquisition fund to purchase and protect old-growth forests and endangered ecosystems, including the forests around Cathedral Grove.